Unbidden Love (Book Five of the Bidden Series)

by Cierlak, Crystal

  Natalie rolled her eyes as she sipped her coffee, buying herself a moment so her friends and co-workers could stew in their own embarrassment for as long as possible. When the silence was becoming too much even for her, she held up her phone so they could look at the screen.

  "You mean this?" Their eyes went to the screen where an image of James - his arm tucked behind the svelte waist of Hollywood's latest It Girl - was front and center. She turned her hand and read the accompanying text. “'Harper Avery shows off the smile that launched a thousand Vogue covers while out to dinner with recently eligible bachelor and billionaire business tycoon James Fitzgerald. Harper and James dined at the ultra exclusive Masa, she in Zac Posen and he in Tom Ford, before quietly slipping into the Four Seasons for the evening’. Blah blah blah." She held the phone at her side and gave her friends an expectant look. "Half a dozen people sent me the link before I even woke up. You could try to take away my phone or my laptop or, God forbid, shut off the Wifi, but it is not going to stop the world from spinning. I am fine. Besides,” she added pointedly, “Harper Avery is friends with Audra and Celine. It’s likely all very friendly and innocent.”

  Natalie was not about to mention that James and Celine were quite possibly together again. She had yet to wrap her mind around that one - not that she wanted to. And whatever feelings she was having about that particular coupling were just as muddled. Rather than try to suss out what it all meant to her she chose sweet, blissful ignorance.

  There was a long stretch of silence as Quinn, Joe, and Shane looked everywhere but her or each other. Finally Shane was the first to again break the silence.

  "She is a terrible actress, and even in Zac Posen she dresses like shit." With a flamboyant flip of his hair he stalked back to the dining table and resumed work, followed by Quinn. Natalie couldn't help but laugh.

  James folded the newspaper and cast it aside. What did he expect when going out with a paparazzi magnet? He saw the photographers snapping away. Avery had paid them no mind, smiling politely as she kept on walking, James at her side. Then again she was used to the attention.

  “It doesn’t bother you, does it?” Avery asked as she rifled through a rack of hanging garments situated beside her many suitcases.

  “I wouldn’t be any good at my job if I was bothered by press, would I?” Throwing off the covers, James got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom, casting a side glance at her from behind. Just as he finished relieving himself, Avery sauntered into the bathroom and turned on the tap in the shower.

  “I am going to head out,” he announced as he finished washing up at the sink.

  “Are you now?” she asked, catching his attention just as he was one foot out the bathroom door. James turned and watched as Avery slipped off her tee shirt and tossed it to the ground. She reached behind her back and a moment later the straps of her bra fell loose around her shoulders. “Maybe I can change your mind.”

  "Have you talked to James lately?" Joe asked from beside Natalie as she tucked herself onto a barstool at the kitchen island.

  "No. Not since-" Not since the last time they saw each other. Her mind flashed back to the memory before she could finish the sentence.

  'Let's make a deal.'

  'A deal?'

  'If when the time comes it turns out that you're right - that I'll somehow love you less or not at all once I've found out what awful thing or things you've done - I'll buy you a Bugatti.'

  'James-'

  'And if I'm right,' he interrupted her, 'and I still love you at your absolute worst, then you have to give me an answer to my proposal.'

  She wanted to be annoyed that he so obviously wasn't taking her seriously, but his self-assuredness was admirable, even if it was misplaced.

  'You're that confident in your love for me?'

  'Absofuckinlutely,' he said without so much as an instant of hesitation. 'What do you say, Harlow, do we have a deal?'

  So far she had yet to receive any Bugatti deliveries.

  "-not since before he found out about us," she continued. "And Audra and me."

  "Does he know about you and Audra now?"

  She shrugged. "I have no idea."

  Joe leaned his elbows on the granite countertop, let out a deep breath and stared at her for half a minute. Finally, he asked, ”How is that going, by the way?"

  Natalie smiled conspiratorially from behind her coffee cup. She was grateful that there was no lingering awkwardness between them, and that he was just as relieved as she was about it. Were they really so lucky to come out of what could have been a horribly awkward and potentially life-ruining situation even better friends than they were before?

  "It's good. I never realized how insane her schedule is though. She has been stressed with renewing contracts, management reviews, and something to do with shares. That company is so huge I don’t know how she manages everything she does. I know it has only been a couple weeks but I feel like our phones are getting more action together than we are."

  Joe stood from his seat and playfully brushed against her shoulder as he headed to the coffee machine. "So go work from the Fitson office today. Take your Mini-Me with you."

  Natalie guffawed and rolled her eyes. "You have to stop calling Amelia my Mini-Me!" she hissed. “She is going to report you to Human Resources!" With a wink she stalked away, coffee cup in hand, and sat down at her computer. She glanced at her phone where the picture of James and his date was still in full display.

  Avery Harper. Natalie had seen one or two of her movies in the past, and wasn't more than mildly impressed when it was mentioned in passing that none other than Celine Robertson (pre-Fitzgerald) had been her babysitter once upon a time. It made sense that they were friends now that Avery was grown up and had more fame and money than any 21-year old deserved or needed. There could not possibly be any more to it than that. James would never…

  James leaned a hand against the slick shower tile to steady himself. He closed his eyes and let himself feel awash with sensation, from the torrent of warm water cascading down his body, to Avery’s eager mouth between his legs. She made a series of soft suckling noises as she worked him, alternating between lapping up and down his hard shaft with her tongue, and creating suction around him with her lips. His hips swayed, thrusting in and out of her mouth before climaxing.

  He looked down just as she discreetly spit his bodily fluids in the direction of the shower drain, and offered her a hand as she came to stand on her feet. With her soaked hair slicked back and dewy water droplets on her eyelashes, Avery was the epitome of the all-American, pretty girl-next-door. James brushed his thumb against her temple just as she leaned up on her toes to kiss him, her lips flushed pink with use.

  “We should do this again some time,” she said flirtatiously.

  “Isn't there some insipid boy your own age you would rather be spending your evenings with?”

  “Probably,” she shrugged. “But I don’t like insipid. I like men with substance.”

  James feigned a smile before leaning in to kiss her again, fusing her soft, plush lips against his own. He almost felt sorry for Avery. She had youth and society’s standard of beauty on her side, and no matter what she claimed to be looking for in a man, James wasn’t it. She was manufactured and packaged to make almost anyone believe she was spectacular behind the demure eyes and flirtatious smile, but stripped of the Hollywood bullshit, Avery Harper was just another pretty girl with a lot of hype, and while he enjoyed her both in and out of bed, she was not much more than a passing moment. A fling.

  “I am going to go,” he said before stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist.

  “Say hi to Celine for me.”

  Natalie stared at the screen of her laptop and skimmed her fingers absentmindedly across the letters of the keyboard. Glancing up she noticed her assistant Amelia, her “Mini Me”, looking incredibly focused at her own laptop, tapping away at Natalie’s email. Stationed around them were interns working on th
eir variously-assigned tasks. Everyone was hard at work but Natalie, whose thoughts were singularly on the office and its occupant two doors down the hallway from where she sat. She had managed a rather inconspicuous glance in the direction of Audra's office upon entering the executive floor of the Fitson Entertainment Groupe offices, but had seen nothing more than a brief flash of blonde hair and heard the faint clicking of Audra's shoes along the ground.

  Focus, Natalie! she chided herself as she looked to the keyboard for inspiration to get back to work. She noticed then, rather surprisingly, that her two index fingers were each resting on specific keys on the left and right side of the keyboard; her left finger on the A, her right on the J.

  That’s odd.

  "Natalie?"

  Natalie glanced up at the familiar voice, her keyboard forgotten, and found James' long-time secretary staring at her from the hallway behind the partially-open door.

  "Yes?" she asked, a little too bright to go unnoticed.

  "Audra Robertson would like to see you in her office if you have a moment?"

  Excitement rippled through her insides like a flash. "Absolutely! I will be right there." Natalie tried not to make a spectacle as she closed the lid to her laptop and stacked paperwork on top of it before grabbing her phone. "Amelia?" she called out to her studiously-engrossed assistant. "Would you mind taking a lunch order for everyone? I will be back shortly." She could hardly wait for the assistant's answer before making her way out of the office. She walked briskly down the hallway, every step like an arc of anticipatory electricity.

  The moment her hand touched the handle on the door to Audra's office, Natalie hesitated. She hovered just above the metal knob and took a moment to wet her lips with her tongue and shake off the nervous energy from her shoulders. The vibration of her cell phone going off in her other hand nearly made her jump.

  ‘Audra: Are you going to come in or should I have maintenance move my desk into the hallway?’

  The nervous energy that had plagued her only a moment prior now rippled down her arms as she laughed at the text display. She swept in through the door and met Audra’s blue eyes almost immediately.

  “Am I totally lame for being nervous?” Natalie laughed as she closed the door shut behind her.

  “Would you be offended if I told you I find it adorable?” Audra stood from her desk and crossed the distance of the lavish office. Natalie could feel her cheeks flush as Audra swept her eyes unabashedly up and down the length of her.

  “No,” Natalie breathed a moment before Audra’s lips were pressed against her own. She relished in the momentary sensation of butterflies in her stomach, the kind that she was inflicted with as a teenager whenever her crush entered the room. She tampered down the nervous energy that seemed to take root in her insides once more. “Though there are a whole list of superlatives I would rather be than ‘adorable’.”

  “You are already beautiful,” Audra whispered before leaning in to kiss Natalie sweetly on her lips again. “And charming.” She bit at Natalie’s bottom lip. “And sexy.”

  “Do not forget ‘wanting’,” Natalie whispered back before enveloping Audra’s lips with her own, deepening the kiss when her lips parted. Her tongue was soft and warm, gentle in its exploration of Natalie’s own. How would that same sensation feel against her skin, in between her parted legs? Her hands roamed Audra’s body until they reached the hem of her blouse and tucked beneath the fabric in search of skin.

  “I should add ‘bad influence’ to this list,” Audra murmured before backing away from Natalie’s hands. “I can’t. This is my office,” she explained, an apology in the tone of her words.

  Natalie nodded and blew an unsteady breath through her lips. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” Audra took Natalie’s hand in her own and led her to the corner of the office appropriated with sumptuous couches in a soft dove grey. “I probably should have warned you my schedule was going to get complicated now that James is on leave. That’s why I asked you in here.”

  James set down his keys and sunglasses on the console table in the foyer and let out a sigh. He checked his watch for the time before heading in the direction of his bedroom, set on washing off the morning and previous night before picking Frankie up from school. His internal clock was thrown off on account of waking up late in Avery’s hotel room. Not having anywhere to be first thing in the morning was unfamiliar to him.

  “There you are!” Celine called out as he stalked past the library. James turned and leaned against the doorway.

  “Were you looking for me?”

  “I did not hear you come home last night, and you were gone so early this morning. How was dinner with Avery?”

  James sighed. “It was good.”

  “There was a nice picture of you two on Page Six. Did you see it?”

  Was there anyone who had not seen it? “No, but I heard about it. Avery says hi, by the way.”

  “I am so sorry I could not join you both last night. I miss Avery. She’s such a good kid.”

  ‘Would you like to come in?’ Avery offered as she strutted through the vestibule of her hotel suite. James leaned against the door frame and tried to keep his eyes cast anywhere but at the plunging black cocktail dress she was poured into.

  ‘Don’t you have to be on set tomorrow?’

  ‘I have a late call time. We are doing night shoots for the next week and a half.’ She flashed him a bottle of Cristal she picked up from a silver bucket of ice. ‘Stay for a glass.’

  He was just drunk enough to take her up on her offer.

  ‘I have a secret to tell you,’ Avery said after pouring champagne into their glasses.

  ‘What’s that?’

  She slipped out of her black stilettos and sauntered up to him, champagne flute in hand. ‘I probably should not even say anything. I have known Celine most of my life. But I swear I will never have the courage to say this to you again for as long as I live.’

  James sipped his wine. His eyes hooded as the alcohol coursed through his system, warming him from the inside out. It was getting harder not to look at the bourgeoning curves of her body, but he had no intention of being anything other than a perfect gentleman. She was only 22 years old, after all.

  ‘Say what?’

  ‘That I have had a crush on you for as long as I can remember,’ she confessed, her eyes never once betraying her as they locked in on him. ‘In fact, it is you I think about when I am touching myself-‘

  ‘Avery-‘ he tried interrupting.

  ‘-Or any time I am with a guy who just is not getting it done for me. I think of you. You are probably the only man who has ever made me come, and yet you have never touched me.’

  James ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, she is a good kid. So,” he said before clearing his throat. He needed to quickly change the subject. “I was planning on picking up Frankie from school.”

  “Oh, there is no need for that!” Celine called out as she returned her attention to a box of books she was packing. “She has a play date with one of your mother’s friend’s kids. Caroline is taking care of her. Why don’t you and I go for some lunch? I have been craving red meat ever since I gave birth.”

  “Sure,” James relented. “Could you give me about an hour? I want to call and check in with my dad at the office.”

  Celine cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you trust him to do your job while you are on leave?”

  “It isn’t about trust, Celine,” James said, trying not to let his irritation show. “An hour. Please?”

  Natalie leaned back into the cushioned seat and crossed her legs. “Let me guess: it is not going to get better anytime soon?”

  Audra raised her brows in a knowing look. “Unfortunately not. James may be on leave, but we still have businesses to run across the country, and while James had no problem traveling every week, Jackson has no interest in it whatsoever."

  "What? Why?"

  Audra's eyes rolled to the ceiling briefly before foc
using on the ground at Natalie's feet in a contemplative gaze. "He has very different ideas about how a company should be run. James does not share many of these, but he trusts him. While we have traditionally had a more hands-on approach, Jackson is comfortable managing from a distance."

  "I always had the impression that James did not like his father very much," Natalie said, crafting an image in her mind of the senior and junior Fitzgeralds standing side-by-side. Even in her imagination they intimidated her. "Why not just leave the company to you while he is gone? Why bring his father in at all?"

  "Jackson is intelligent, intuitive, immensely successful..." Audra rattled off as though she were counting the points out on her fingers. It was the unspoken, however, that Natalie minded. If anything, Audra sounded diplomatic, as though her opinions really lived in the realm of personal though they were dressed in the tone of a professional.

  "A lot of people are intelligent, intuitive and successful," Natalie replied dryly.

  Some unspoken thought darkened Audra's face. "James trusts his father."

  It was those particular words left unspoken that were now very loud and obvious to Natalie: James doesn't trust Audra. Rather than leave his half of the company in the hands of his partner of many years, he would bring in a man whom he did not particularly like, who had a different mindset for business, but whom James trusted in spite of all that.

  And it was all because of her. Because of Natalie.

  "... still working out the details and itinerary. Natalie?"

  Natalie snapped out of her thoughts and focused on Audra's inquisitive glare. "Sorry, what were you saying?”

  “Alice, hi. It’s James.”

  “Mister Fitzgerald!” his assistant exclaimed through the phone. “What a wonderful surprise to hear from you today.”

  James smiled at her uncharacteristically effusive tone as he leaned back into his chair in the home office. “How are things, Alice?”